In communication, radar detection, and other applications, the binary frequency or phase encoding of a received signal is detected by comparing it to a binary reference code. Such comparison can be conducted in a pulse compressor which may include a correlator that correlates the series of bits of the demodulated received signal with the series of bits of the reference code. Since the demodulated received signal varies in amplitude as well as phase, a better correlation could be obtained by also taking into account the amplitude of each segment of small duration, of the received signal. However, no high speed correlators for real time correlation are available, which can make such a comparison, and it had been thought that the cost of designing and constructing a custom integrated circuit or the like to make such an amplitude-dependent correlation would be prohibitive. A pulse compressor which could take into account the amplitude as well as the phase of each of numerous segments of a received signal when correlating it with a reference code, using only commonly available ("off-the-shelf") circuit components, or available designs, would be of considerable value.